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Well, well, well, 365 days of waiting for moment of truth to finally find out if I got scammed or not #It’s been a long time coming.

I am so lucky to have Swifties like Sophie & Chantal who tried their best looking out for one more standing tickets on Wednesday for me. In between classes, they refreshed the fansale page, constantly looking at their phone three days in a row yet couldn’t get it. At this moment, I’m thankful about my purchase from Viagogo no matter how conflicting it was.

First timers to ever go to a Concert in my life + a solo rider, resulting in have to be there earlier. When I reached Gelsenkirchen Hbf, blimey! Numberless Swifties with their glitter, jewel, cowboy boots, pretty dresses. Didn’t need to find direction, they all will guide me.

Arrived around 16:30 getting pumped up by Swiftscenery at Veltins Arena. There are merch stands, didn’t have any intention to buy as my Ticket is my only Beitrag to her economy 😉 Saw many people having a “key chain” of friendship bracelet. Aaaa me want, you suppose to be exchanging, how can I exchange when I don’t even have any, lass es so sein.

Slowly walking to my East entrance. The feeling when you see Taylor’s Eras Tour Stage was unspeakable. This exact massive stage was the one I was seeing from her movie or Instagram’s feed. Now, you and I ended up in the same room, at the same time #Gobsmacked!

Of course I know nothing about Opening Band, silly me thinking she will really start singing at 18:15 who was the Opening Band? have no idea either. When the clock start at exact 18:15, Paramore came out! I wish I know more of their songs other than The Only Exceptions.

I texted Sophie at what time Taylor come out, she said before 20:00, Lady Gaga song’s Applause is the sign. I was waiting on the toilet when I heard it, reconfirm with the girl behind me, we both screamed AAA! what to do? I need to pee + I’m on the first row now, did it fast then runnnnnnn!

Made it on time! Woghhh! Can’t miss the iconic Taylor’s appearance. Miss Americana and The Heart Break Prince was a totally perfect entrance. Everyone was standing including me ~ not on my seat though, somewhere on the barricade.

Eras after Eras, I “dressed” like a Lover Era, need to have a picture of it! See, colorful shirt hahaha. It was grandiose to sing around with 60.000 Swifties. After she sang Champagne Problem, she took in some time to see her crowds, they were screaming like hell, my eardrums hurts!

I stand for full hour on her first performance ~ still not in my seat ~ in the end the security asked us to return to our seat, here I am back to the top of the Stadium. I can’t see her either way, only from the screen. I can see where she is, what clothes she’s wearing etc. Gave up on seeing her face directly, tried to see who are the VIP guests, if Travis Kelce is there? Forget it, I was too much far up.

Her concert finished exactly like how I remember it from her movie. Everyone come out swiftly. Since I was there alone, need to rely on my sense of direction which I lost when it’s dark. Luckily I also met a solo-riders named Charlotte from Bremen. We looked for a way to Hbf together, what more surprisingly is she stays at Dorint Hotel! Yeayyy close to my place!

Charlotte suggested to took the Ubahn to other direction then get off, this way we avoid so much crowd. We were not the only one who think about it. Later, we met with 2 Düsseldorfer Swifties Nik from Nikoulausdorf and Shine, too bad I didn’t have a picture with them. I wanted too since he gave me my first Friendships Bracelet “Yes, Instead of No”. Out of my behavior, I was too shy to ask for a photo….

A tinny surprise is I met Larissa on the Eurobahn to Dortmund, never expected it. I asked her friendship bracelet, I took where she has two, that is “Evermore”. After missed the photo chance with Nik & Shine, wouldn’t let it happened with Charlotte, shake it off, should’ve do it earlier where we have better lightning. Ach well, at least for some memory 🙂

This whole experience is enchanted, maybe for next time I should’ve buy either Standing ticket or VIP…..honestly, it has to be VIP, I’m not getting any younger 😉

It was rare, I was there, I remember it all too well

http://marlynpraseli.com/2023/10/22/preview/

http://marlynpraseli.com/story-of-2023/experience-july/

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Kann ja nicht alles unter einen Hut bekomme

One of our dear food nerds friend, Thomas, is getting married in Franzin Alm. The Nerdies featuring Claudia + Giovanni, Sara + Diego, Fiona, Christian will be there, what a nice Shanghai reunion <3

A little bit of history background, I knew Thomas in year 2016, we became close somewhere in 2018 with new people like Claudia & Giovanni + Sara. In 2019 the Wechat group Food Nerds was established, not long after that, Diego joined Sara in Shanghai, followed by Christian then Fiona to the group. Why food nerds? because we do nothing other than eating, especially our weekly ritual Bar Centrale every Sunday for Buy 1 Get 1 Free Pizza + happy hour Aperol Spritz. To this day, I am actually biased of what made us come often to Bar Centrale, is the Pizza that good? or the money deal is undeniable? Long story short, we knew each other for some time.

That is why when I got a text from Thomas about his wedding, I am really happy for him 🙂 I’ll make sure I’ll be there!

Prior to the wedding there are many discussions on both Wechat & WhatsApp group regarding what will we do for the couple. The core members of both groups are the same ~ meaning I only know us the Nerdies, there are some other new people too that I haven’t even met. With bigger crowds come bigger discussion, many ideas thrown out yet not a concrete one.

The classics one was always a slide show presentation about our time in Shanghai, that is why “someone” asked for a photo to be uploaded in a google link. I have a lot of photos from me and Thomas, we were friends for years. Additionally, I visited Thomas in Bolzano in 2020, obviously I have many selfies.

Had to mentioned, I have never met Janine before, so does other people. It is common some people in the group only know one side, either they are friends of Thomas or Janine. Few people actually friends with both as they first met in 2021. Some factors weigh in such as the famous Corona lockdown makes it harder for larger group to gather around.

Little did I knew, “someone / he” mistakenly took me as Janine! due to the reason, he never met neither me nor Janine! I think I’m the only one who sent a lot of selfie with Thomas on the google drive. Then, I realized he wasn’t make the classic slide show, he made a hat! for us to wear on the wedding dance floor! A hat with my selfie + a lot of hearts…it’s a funny hat for me, not sure what would the newlyweds think!

How did I found out about this hat?

During dessert time, I was talking with Thomas’ brother Philip then Rickard put something on my head. It must be a hat, what else can it be? I didn’t think it was THAT HAT! I thought a hat from PhotoBox. I utter the word “ah what kind of hat are you putting me on” Philip replied “a very nice one” took it out from my head, I WAS SHOCKED! directly hide it under the table, no no no no, you can’t do this to me, breath breath breath! Philip didn’t know the background story. I told Philip what “the hat creator” told me, according to him, he asked photos from Janine & Thomas. I misunderstand it as “please send me a photo of you with Thomas or you with Janine” Philip laughed, he said, let me see the hat, give it to me.

I really didn’t want the hat to spread around, I have never met Janine before, I don’t know how she will react. Started with Philip, it created a chain of information. Now it is to Diego, to Sara, to Claudia, to Giovanni. Giovanni said “give it to me Marlyn, I need to see it” Claudia cut it “no, not now, after the wedding. Don’t give it to him Marlyn, it’s dangerous if he has it”. When Manuel see on the ‘storage room’ there are a lot of these hats packed in a poly bag, I freaked out, ran, closed the door, put all the hat into the Koffer, no no no no this can’t be. The Nerdies were just laughing, they all said “I want to have one of it”

My hat was hid perfectly well on the pocket of my jacket, others I put it inside the Koffer. So far so good, no one needs to know other than the Food Nerds + Philip + Manuel.

The wedding party went smoothly, food after food, cakes after cakes, first dance, party started!! we were all having fun….until…. the hat reveals itself, boah I can assure you, all food nerds were flabbergasted! there was a brief moment where I locked in eyes with Claudia on the opposite side, our jaws dropped to the floor before burst into laugh. You can see on the video, Giovanni hasn’t stop laughing! The reason why I was shaken was…. how did Janine found out? who’s giving it to her?

Now the cats are out from the bag, no secret anymore! haha we all can wear the hats! Diego said “Marlyn, whoever from us married next, we will make a hat with your face and the guy’s face on it” The Nerdies hats are special, we have Thomas & Janine signed on it. Thomas has one with my name written on it. He said, when you are getting married, I don’t care if I’m invited or not, I will come with the hat and ask your guy to sign it as well, I will tell him “See, I have been there before” hahaha

After the wedding, some guess put the hat on the lobby area, hey! don’t throw it away! Luckily, the hotel receptionist approached Claudia to asked “is this belong to your party?” “Yes” “do you know the person on the hat?” “Yeeessss!” so now Claudia has two!

Sara, Diego & Fiona stayed a few days after the wedding, they did hike together with the hats! oh God! this hat really will go everywhere! They won’t let it go easily.

Perhaps we will wear it all together when we meet again, Oktoberfest hey? See you all soon nerdies! don’t forget about our hats!

FYI, now that I’m calm down, I scrolled the chat, he didn’t specifically mentioned Janine AND Thomas, not like what he told me on the wedding day. He and his wife told me because they never met Janine before that’s why they asked in the group to send a picture of both Thomas AND Janine. They said “And you send your selfie, so we print it” Nope, no prove of you saying that word ‘AND’. The whole time I thought I misunderstand them, I wasn’t! They fucked up then they wanted to throw the shit out of me, not gonna happen brother, I backed up by Janine humorous personality.

Well…. sometimes mistake must happen in order to know the real character of the person, I’m relieve Janine took it as a jokes 🙂 it could potentially be really schief gegangen, thank you for not letting it go south.

Love you Food Nerds! Happy Wedding Thomas & Janine, thank you Janine for being a fun individual!

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Double Personality

This is the moment! tonight is the night! the reason why I insist of having Innsbruck Card after all is due to the Innsbrucker Nordkettenbahnen / Top of Innsbruck. The cable car’s ride itself will cost us 47 Euro ~ or 40 Euro according to Ankita #Whatever. It is already included in our 72 hours = 79 Euro Innsbruck Card. Comprender?

Gave Joe some warning on this particular Thursday, we will do ‘overtime’ than yesterday since there are 2 Cable Cars we want to do. The Top of Innsbruck and the Evening Ride from Patscherkofelbahn.

Our AirBnB lady said there’s not needed to go to Patscherkofelbahn as Nordkettenbahn is already the best. Hell no to the o o o, we will go just because we can, on top of that we already paid for it, we are not going to your concert which located on the next city, read: are not included in the Innsbruck card #The math ain’t mathing.

We took the Ubahn at Hofburg, crossed the river, it will stop at Löwenhaus, #Stay on your seat. Almost drop Joe there to check before he got saved by the bell sounds of door closing. Passed through Alpine Zoo, final Cable Car Station: Hungerburgbahn. This is where you all got off.

Joe had his brief moment of enjoying the view while I got busy with my body lotion that spread around my bags to my power bank, his phone charger etc. I need help! he instruct to wipe it with tissues. On the contrary, I responded “noooo, we can still use it, moisture my skin!” He thought the body lotion was somehow ruin, it wasn’t, I didn’t close it properly. #Oh, there goes my sympathy! After the tissue solved the issue, we could walk around to see what Hungerburgbahn offer us. We enter the church, Joe pointed “why do we have Alien? her face is green?” feel a bit creeped out, let’s go to the next station.

I read the word “JETZT” with red, bold, capitalized. Enough to get my attention, it is time, now! whereas he read the info “STOP. Please take the next one”. Two “Germans” ~ not necessarily from Germany, might be from German speaking countries were also confused, he asked Joe about why the gate wasn’t open. Yeah, in the end, the non-German-speakers was the only one who could explain what’s going on 😉 We just need to wait, the sign will always be “JETZT” unless it wasn’t true.

Next station is Seegrubenbahn, we can see…. the same view with higher altitude haha. There are some playground, place to sit around, suspicious white parts ~ had to check if it is snow? be careful on the way there are many shits #Watch your steps. There is restaurants here, looks nice, we both agree no matter how good the view is, we will eat inside, if not the soup or whatever food we ordered will already be cold before entering our mouth!

Joe was distracted by a bunch of birds flew around us, he suspected it was because of me eating chocolate bar. Hey, the other Asian people next to us also eat something, except the birds ain’t coming to them! #I’m innocent

Running away from the flock of birds, we went to our last cable car to station Hafelekarbahn aka Top of Innsbruck! The sign say it themselves! While Joe soaking all the sun, I, on the other hand preserve my youth by reapplying my sunscreen. We saw the signs to go to Karspitze, Geo Trail, Klettersteig, Innsbruckblick or Karwendelblick. Let’s do 3 out of 5, then we satisfied. Walked to Karwandelblick + Innsbruckblick then Karspitze.

On the way to Karspitze we sat for a while, when down there was a fight against the birds, here on the top we have fight against the ‘smoke’ haha I meant clouds. There is no need to go up when the clouds are coming, we can see the skies passed us. Slowly but sure we went up. On the top, we saw a family eating chocolate, that’s a good idea! told Joe to look at the chocolate maybe they can feel our pressure #They didn’t. Joe ran away when he noticed this family would ask him for a picture, instead she asked me. Did it nicely, still getting no chocolate pffff now is their turn to take picture of us! Beautiful up here hey!

Some time ago, on site, Joe was “there is a balcony down there, do you want to go?” “Noooo”. Fast forward to when we were waiting for cable car to wrap this up, I watched the TV, tapped him “Joe, there is balcony on the TV, where is it? we didn’t see any or?” “Yes we did, I asked you, only for you to answer with ‘nooo’ ” ahhh ok! that question I remembered 😉

Now we are back on the ground! What do we doooo? Museum Tour! First is the Goldenes Dachl Museum. We were exactly on the roof, we can see people on the bottom or on the City Tower. Attempted to say hello, no one return his hello 🙁 let’s do some coloring shall we? haha

Second is Stadtmuseum & Stadtarchiv. We didn’t understand why the lady said ‘just go’ the archive section, not knowing is not part of the museum, the guy was working there. I was like “Hmm, is this part of the Museum?” “No, it’s the Archive, feel free to look around” We backed out, we are not a detective who wants to see city archive haha

Honestly speaking, none of us are a Museum Person, is it worthy to continue? or let’s sit somewhere? We do the later, sat down on Starbucks near the Goldenes Dachl, having ice chocolate + ice latte while judging 2 then 3 then 4 street performers before moving to our next Agenda.

What’s next? obviously the Evening Ride we were waiting for since Tuesday, Patscherkofelbahn! We were so happy when we saw a family from the other side of cable car saying hi to us, the father was “gluing” himself to the glass, his daughter on his left, didn’t see the son but Joe said he was on his right. The girl waving her hand, we both return her hi. We knew exactly how it felt when no one return our hi from the Dach! So happy that our thought got passed down to the next generation.

The suspected “German” guy said there was an easy path walk called Ziberweg, not so long #According to him. I’m smart enough to ask “how long will it takes?” 2,5 hours. Noooo, noooo, nooo, noo we can’t. I think he was surprise with our answer. Dude, our “not so long” is 30 minutes back and forth! Don’t you see how much white our shoes are, these ain’t made for hiking….. We will just look around here, you have fun!

Once we arrived, I read the info in German “Joe, look, it’s written we can enjoy the sunset”. “When? At 23:00? We are in the mountain” 😀

We were only sitting from one place to another, calculated how much money we saved by using the card. Then he casually asked “have we been there?” pointed on the fucking cover of the Innsbruck brochure I have been holding for the past 72 hours. Hmmm, I think so…. flipped it to the page where that picture located, fuck! no! we haven’t! shit! we missed it! let’s go now!

I’m telling you, this is where our second personality come out, I remembered we were quiet tired, nevertheless, the moment we knew, adrenaline rush kick in #You think you know someone, you don’t. Joe was a bit ragu ragu “no…. we need to come back once again to Innsbruck” being a very calculated Asian, “no! we still have time, use your 120 GB capacity! look for direction, we need to leave this mountain”

We were brought from our lowest low to our highest high within one second, were hyped up! move directly to our new mission like no others, even Justin Timberlake Intime is not comparable to us. Saw our bus leaving from our cable car cabin! aaaa, okay we take the next one. Got off on the correct station, find out we were in the middle of nowhere. Joe wonder what do people do, what is the purpose of this station? there is literally nothing here, we use his gigantic internet capacity to zoom in, do the 3D view, there is simply no road, it’s can’t be 6 minutes walking? there is a forest, river, stones, everything….. how can we cross it?

Decided it’s a no go, make a conclusion if you want to see this platform, do it from Bergisel, you just need to hike for 30-40 minutes. We took the next bus to Joe’s road: Maria-Theresien-Straße, I’m afraid at some point he will tattoo this road hahaha.

We had Thai food at Thai Li restaurant, it’s his first time trying Mango Sticky Rice, he assured me it won’t be his last. We had a very typical Innsbruck delicacies, Asian food! Wherever you are, top of mountain or on the ground.

Thank you so much Joe for accompanying me in Innsbruck, I always enjoy the time, everything seems funnier with you, whenever you’re around it’s just a different level of energy. Very grateful we knew each other back in 2016 and still somehow manage to be in contact from time to time. Wish you all luck as well as happiness! ‘Till we meet again, take care!

*we conquer Innsbruck within 72 hours* #Mic drop

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The 8 “Working” Hours – Part 3

The second day of our 24 hours Innsbruck card, we did very durchgetaktet! Zack Zack Los! Clocked in our Journey at 09:00 AM. All the rides for today sponsored by a Hop on Hop off aka Sightseer bus! before you get too excited of sitting on a double decker bus, it’s not, just a normal one level bus. Pay attention to the Bus Station, you need to see the red symbol S on it.

First stop was the Imperial Palace / Hofburg. They have a Maximilian 1 Exhibition, please be aware of this name, you’ll hear or read about him many times. Do we know who he is? Not the slightest hahaha our memory is limited to how incapable the guard were.

  • So, Maximilian Exhibition is there, here is written “the office” do you know where is it? did we passed it?
  • Oh I don’t know why it’s written there, do not pay attention to it.
  • Do you know what is the stage outside the Hofburg for?
  • Oh no I don’t know.

There is no photo as we weren’t allowed to take any of it in the Imperial Palace. I almost got busted, could be the reason why the lady kept following us. She seems smart, we decided to ask what is the relation between Maximillian and the imperial palace people to which she answered “I’m not a tour guide” well…. mother!$k3r hahaha

At some point, she told us that we can only walk on the carpet because the floor is lava! haha there installed an alarm where it could ring really loud. Tempted to drop my brochure to test it, yet backed it out #Calm down Marlyn.

Moving on to the other side of Innsbruck, Schloss Ambrass. It was the same Sightseer driver who drove us before. This Schloss Ambrass is very confusing, we didn’t find the entrance easily. Everytime we asked someone, they pointed somewhere else, one of them said “there is a Karte (map)” I know damn it! I just didn’t want to read it! #Lazy ass.

Arrived to the allegedly upper castle which according to Joe wasn’t really upper haha only to being told the entrance was from the down side. The arrow on each is very confusing hey!

We finally made it! welcomed by an armor room, painting room which reminded me of Mr. Beans movie ~The Whistler’s Mother, you know which one~ Joe wanted to go to woods area for a while, he got his wishes granted, even tried to make conversation with a peacock. We followed the map, the Castle is divided into many exhibitions on different places, don’t lose your entrance ticket, you will need to scanned it every time. There were also Chapel, temporary exhibitions ~ while we were there it was about human with special characteristics, like the one from This is The Greatest Show! ~ where we can’t take pics.

Being inspired from the Hofburg where they provided a mirror for a good selfie according to me but since we can’t take a photo we didn’t do it. We saw more or less the same mirror, attempted to take pictures of our zodiac. See us with Virgo and Libra, no right? because we weren’t successful haha.

Next destination is Bergisel Stadion & Sprungschanze for the ski jump. The station called Das Tirol Panorama, the name speaks for itself. Asked Joe to take me some pictures, right after he took some, he confess “I’m not a very good picture taken” well, you gotta learn yo! haha just kidding, it was good 🙂

Oh there was a Café! let’s have a snack break here, I had cake and radler, what a combination #Brain doesn’t work anymore. Checked on his phone, 4 mins walk to Bergisel. Right when we about to leave, it started to rain. Oh no! Let me think, there are two options, went into the Museum while wait until the rain slow down…. or…. just go while it’s still drizzling. We choose the later.

Didn’t regret it, when we arrived the rain getting smaller, at some point it stopped. The “funicular” or should I say “elevator” rides every 15 minutes. What we can see from here? Panorama again! 😉 only from a higher point.

On the brochure, I can see there is a seeing platform nearby called Drachenfelsen. Don’t be so optimistic about the weather, like our AirBnB Lady said “Austrian is always prepared” the drizzle comes back, enough to annoyed us hahaha we decided not to go there now, rather try to go tomorrow when the weather supposed to be good. Unbeknownst to us, there is no way to get it other than to “hike” for about 30-40 minutes from Bergisel #Oh well.

We past the Memorial Andreas where it’s written for God, King and Fatherland #So touching. Both of us directly placed our hand on our heart, began the choir of aaaaaaaaaaaa

Last, we were entering a Tirol Panorama mit Kaiserjägermuseum. Where Joe was confused about the so called “Panorama” it’s just a screen 😀

Then we catch the last Sightseer bus, went back to Joe’s favorite / haunted street, Maria-Theresien-Straße. It was still the same bus driver from morning, he recognizes us therefore commented “wow, very busy!” yes Sir! we were working the same shift as you! When you have an Asian planner, everything need to cross the box!

We wanted to try if we go to watch our AirBnB Lady’s show #We couldn’t. It was far away like 40 minutes, by the time we have to come back it will takes us 1 hour or so. On top of that, remember we just “work” for 8 hours. Having no more energy, we decided to just eat at Chinese Restaurant nearby 来来来.

*continue to our last 24 hours*

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A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words

Can’t wait to spill the beans of a kind of roller-coaster adventure this week has brought me in, spoiler alert: it’s a fun one 😀

Thomas invited me to his wedding on 6th of July in South Tyrol, without a doubt I would like to be there. Planned started as in looking at the map, what is the city before South Tyrol? Hmm…. Innsbruck, Austria. Read good blog about it, decided it will be my Zwischenstopp. Next is gathering my crowd, texted Hanna whether she’s interested in my idea, think who could be the other person that we both knew? Joe!! I have meet him 2 years ago in Desenzano while Hannah hasn’t for like 7 years or so, let’s ganged up in Innsbruck #Shanghai connection! Sadly, one of the other reason Hanna was not able to join our small trip. Joe hasn’t really confirmed yet, however in the end he did! #Happy!

Do ground research, there are this things called Innsbruck Card for 72 hours cost 79 Euro, bought it in the train station. There were 2 counters with one old “German / Austrian” idk guy, spoke German to him, he said I need to go to the next (empty) counter, he was having 0 customer but it’s not his goddamn business, I wait…. wait… wait until Italian lady come out. Oh hello, Signora, where were you the whole damn time?!

Got yourself these two flyers, it will save your planning!

One by one, let’s peel what did we do in those 72 hours, we maximize it to our use. That I can guarantee #Devil smile.

I arrived earlier than Joe, had Thai food as lunch near Hbf, checked in, strolled around the memorial to those who died for the freedom of Austria, Annasäule, Triumphforte etc. Wow! You always have a mountain view on the background, love it! Innsbruck gefällt mir 🙂

Joe arrived around 15:00, we went to our AirBnB before exploring the city. Every article I read written we need to take a “selfie” with the Goldenes Dachl, being an uncreative tourist, we didn’t even try to take photo of each other, if it’s written a selfie then a selfie it is! We did so many times from different angle, Joe tried to delete some people from background, yet the edited version was too obvious, better try another one, another one, another one and gave up haha

Almost all attraction closed at 17:00. So we gotta go to next one, Hofkirche where they have a Bronze Statue human sizes, before entering the church there was a multimedia show for 15 minutes. What is this multimedia? Voice and a bit of “laser” show. To me it was like kind of escape room where one door opened after explanation or more out of a sudden a couple come out from the closed door, wtf yo?! were you lost or something? Done with it, we enter the real church, I like it, it reminds me of Logo of Hogwarts what? hahaha When we were out of the church ~ still in the courtyard, saw a map with some legends & numbers…. orange squares, number 3…. the altar… hä? what it is? you mean that room is the altar? took us some few seconds to realize it was the map of the inside! the one we just stepped in! #Facepalm.

Right after, we go to the Stadtturm / City Tower. There we can also see the Goldenes Dachl, remember the instruction from all blog I read ~ selfie with the roof ~ not the building so here we got, nothing other than the roof view! Nailed it!

Then my Asian calculation don’t let me miss any opportunity, we wanted to go to the Patscherkofelbahn, since it’s written Evening Ride from 17-23:00. We took a wrong bus direction on the way there, getting off, redirect ourselves, spending 50 minutes up to Patscherkofelbahn Station only to be confused as to…. why it’s so quiet…. I was in the toilet when I found out the Evening Ride was only on Thursday while we were on Tuesday #Shouldn’t have ignored the sign.

Come out, directly run to Joe, we need to go now otherwise we have to wait for the bus for another 20 minutes! Hop on to the J Bus, another 50 minutes to reach City Center. Joe was having a bit seasick / cabin fever due to the way was a bit winding #Sorry!

After almost 2 hours on the bus haha feel so good to breath a fresh air. We see the “Dancing House” inspired from Amsterdam, at least that’s how I called it. There we met Ankita, she heard us speaking English, approached to asked for a photo. Little did we knew, she also lives in Germany! you never know who you will meet along the way, could be someone living close by, for sure we will meet again in Germany 🙂

We talked about our Innsbruck trip, where to go etc, continue to eat in an Imbiss while watching the Europe cup behind us to know who is playing against who. There she had the ‘nerves’ to ask if Innsbruck card worthy haha I am not a person who pour oil to fire. Girl! you will cry once I told you what we are going to go with this card, don’t ask any question you are not ready for the answer 😉

We closed the day by me searching on where to take the bus while Joe said proudly “for sure it will be from Maria-Theresien-Straße” not only he has a correct pronunciation for a German street name, he was also correct regarding the Bus Stop, boah! after 3 hours he is already a local!

*24 hours checked, continue to our next 48 hours!*

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Lebensversicherung

Claudia asked me to join Gevelsberg Kirmes, it’s a yearly fun fair where they have a lot of food stands like in Christmas market only on summer, I have been there before in 2022 and would like to be there again 🙂

Our program: always gathered at Alina’s home ~ her place is exactly where the entrance of Kirmes which also become our Pipi Box #Save money! There I met new people, Karen and Jens.

Gevelsberg Kirmes’ located on a hill, once you reach the “top” there is a Ferris wheel. Claudia & Alina established a ritual, every Kirmes day they will ride it. We also have it in Christmas market Dortmund yet for whatever reason it never attracts me #perhaps someday it will. Now I’m at Kirmes, let’s follow their ritual. Leute I’m not gonna lie, I was scared! shit man! getting old’s never become realer!

As I mentioned before, you will see Mandel, Cotton Candy, Ice Cream, Langos etc. I ate Kartoffel Twister, once I paid, I moved to the other lady who will pour which spice I want. The lady was “Wo ist die Dame?” “Bin here!” did she missed me while I’m right in front of the Theke? pfffff. Besides eating, we must have shots Rhabarber + Himbeere at the middle stand #Always.

Around 22:00 where it was dark, Claudia & Alina afraid I will lose in crowd of people, they bought me my Lebensversicherung. Both of them were “I will buy Marlyn Balloon, let’s do it” The seller wants to give me Peppa Pig, it wasn’t so good, Claudia choose die Katze as a representatives of HB who is sitting at home with Julius. Neither do they know, that Balloon costed 13 Euro! Damn! ~ Long time ago it was 2 DM hahaha. Too late to cancel, I’m proudly walk with it! it is very convenient for them, they know exactly where I am 😀

We are sure we will meet some NW people, we did! Sabrina, Melanie, Claudia (other), Carsten. Apart from Arbeitsleute, we met with Claudia’s Bootcamp people, Markus & his wife Kathrin. Yeah, forgot to mentioned on a Saturday they always do sport which means I am also doing that #Gruppenzwang. I was participated on their Bootcamp before so I knew Markus as Mario guy because he was dressed up with hat + hoodie like Super Mario color. One of the guy, Alex asked me what do I think about the workout? Eww Brother, I’d rather sleep! Valentine’s training plan was better than before…however #No offense, I still don’t like Bootcamp training haha. TSC Eintract Dortmund, why oh why you cancel my Yoga class during EM!

Back to Kirmes Topic 🙂 On a Saturday we rode das Riesenrad for the second time #Ritual. Honestly, I have less Angst than yesterday. Claudia believe “Höheangst kann man überwinden” you only need to do it more often. Apropos, we have a Gevelsberger 2024 Pin! Alina took it for us, she has a sharp eye to see where the bucket is! #Ess dä Kiärmis inne Gänge, schmeet ek mie inne Menge.

I went back to Dortmund on that Saturday kurz vor Europameisterschaft as DE vs Dänemark plays in BVB Stadion, it’s die Hölle los für Dortmund! I need to get myself a seat or at least able to Bewegung because I will bring my balloon to NW! Therefore I must survive the crowd!

Did I? Half! until Unwetter greeted me right on my Ubahn Station. Blitz, Donner, Hagel usw. FYI, Feli informed me the game stops for 15 minutes. I always bring umbrella but I have to protect my Balloon, took shelter for a while at Dogewo21 before decided to just hit the rain, made it home! ballons saved! can’t wait to show it to NW!

Almost 4 years in Germany, even though I don’t have a lot of friends here, my friend does 🙂 I’m lucky enough to have her who introduces me to all of her friends, love you Freundin! Oh wait, how about my friend? Julius is not a big fans of Kirmes, still he picked us up, no matter what time, thank you my Freund. Now I know what I’m gonna do every last weekend in June 🙂

First Gevelsberg Kirmes experience in year 2022 http://marlynpraseli.com/2022/07/03/german-full-part-2/

Tips: prepare about 35-40 Euro cash for each day you visit Kirmes, just to be on the safe side 🙂

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Silent Week Treatment

I have been waiting for Bea’s visit since few months until the day she arrived, picked her up at Hbf, went back home, had ramen…..suddenly….. my voice’s gone!!!! I c.a.n.t. s.p.e.a.k!

Next day I did WFH only transfer my phone to my colleague as I barely able to utter a word. Called it off after not even two hours. She was isolated in the living room, did her home office there while I was on my bedroom.

Half of our plan still go through which is crossing out as many places we can from my Gutscheinbuch. Nothing is able to stop us from eating 🙂 you can see most of the time I only drink Tea with Ginger and I carried 2 hot water bottles with Lemon slice on it.

  • We’ve had Kuchen at Cafe Kompott, lecker!! It’s my first time being in a Ukrainian restaurant.
  • Cafe Auszeit for Breakfast. I’ve been there with Kinga for Kuchen too so I know this place is good.
  • Klubhaus1249. I had Schnitzel boah the portion was giant, Bea had Burger. Although we have all time in the world to finish it, I couldn’t however she nailed hers!
  • Hoshino. I really like their Bento Box!
  • Wonder Waffel in Hörde. We also have in city center but I want to show her Phönix See as the other tourist spot for Dortmund.
  • Tequilaria Bochum, some mexican food.
  • immergrün Dortmund. We finally have a healthy food, salad yo! save it on her last day 🙂

Besides eating, we’ve done some other activities too such as:

  • Had an appointment in Salzgrotte where we just lay down for 45 minutes in a room full of Salz.
  • Watched a Musical Express in Hansa Theater. I didn’t expect the show will be 3,5 hours + 30 mins break. I thought it will be 2 hours max, we kind of dragged down the average age on that show haha #Finally, we weren’t the older one. I feel very happy to see rather senior people still actively go out with friends or family watching musical show. This is what aging suppose to looks like 🙂
  • On the weekend, we went to an Escape Room in Bochum. We managed it within 1 hour with some helps from the operator. It was actually a beginner task but since we both read Chinese, we think more complicated that it has to be.

Since I knew she likes Manga, I took her to Düsseldorf, walking a long path the Little Tokyo. We had our lunch in my favourite Takumi Tan Tan Mian Shop 🙂 not for Ramen though haha

At first we planned to go to Movie Park, I saw my improvement day after day, decided it’s not worth as I am for sure not be able to stand on a line nor sitting on a roller coaster. On her last days staying with me I heard sometimes she’s coughing or sneezing, I kept asking “do you need my medicine? do you have vitamins?” God please protect her!

It was really nice having Bea here, selbstverständlich it would be better if I was healthy so we could do what we intended to do. Sometimes, life takes an unexpected turn. Sorry to give you the full week silent treatment Bea!

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Hotels Hopping

When my parents are joining us in Bali, we stayed in a very hochwertiges Hotel!

Ayana Rimba (4D3N)

We got our welcome flowery necklace thingy, drink Rosemary tea cold #so good! + hand towel. I was hesitant to take it as I didn’t hear she said “refreshing” I thought it was warm like the one you get on the airplane, therefore when she drop it to my hand I screamed aaaaaaa.

This Ayana Group is a collections of 4 hotels: (Just) Ayana, Ayana Segara, Ayana Wana, last Ayana Rimba. You can go to each hotels for breakfast, swimming at Ayana’s infinity pool or others, kids club etc. They provide shuttle bus every 10 minutes with destinations to each Hotels, Saka Museum, at the end station approximate 10 minutes ride you will reach their private Kubu Beach, be careful there were monkeys on the way.

Visited Saka Museum, went to Auditorium where they explained what kind of celebration Nyepi ist. It is a silent day for all people in Bali to stop doing anything for one day; airports are not operating, hotel will reduce their working hours. We saw Ogoh-Ogoh ~ no picture because I’m 胆小鬼 it is a scary version of Ondel-Ondel. They making it on purposely scary to catch all bad evil spirit to burn it in the midnight. Only then, they started their new first day of the year with Nyepi.

Our room rate included 1 hour free Thalasso Theraphy. Some precautions: it is a salt water pool theraphy, you must eat 3 hours before you do this ~ meaning you can’t go if you just had food for half an hour or else you will feel nausea. We took shuttle bus to Ayana Spa! there is a place for a fucking spa alone! Cray crayyyyyy.

Here is how it go, station number one is to walk against the flow. Boy oh boy, couldn’t even go through, Sissy need to go first. While you passed the curve, there are some rocks on your your feet! aaaahhhh… Station number two is 4 “bubble massage” from ankle to hips, each one minute. It felt good for 10 seconds, longer than that I started to feel itchy. Next is same “bubble massage” for back. I lost control on which station where it was for palm of your feet, we were laughing the whole damn time, was so ticklish. Icing on the cake was “water jet massage” to our shoulders. The pressure was…. we describe it as if we were beaten by 10 people! We were so grateful we only got the one hour free. What confuses us is since this Spa open for public, some people actually paid for getting tortured! We named this therapy a “Rich People Therapy”, not our cup of tea.

Parents and I were kind of explore a bit. Went to Melasti Beach & Garuda Wisnu Kancana. I have been to GWK since I was 16 years old however the complete statue of Wisnu riding on a Garuda has never finished, some says it’s done in year 2019, okay then, let’s check.

At the same time we have World Water Forum where important people such as our President + Elon Musk attended, accompanied by 2000 delegations #Why? I found some WWF cars in Melasti beach but not my President, must be one of the delegations aka not so important people #Causing traffics.

Sissy was kind of bewildered why do I need to go to Melasti beach where we have a private beach at the hotel? she got the point though. Rimba is a kind of hotel where you don’t need to go anywhere else. If you don’t stay in one of the Ayana’s, I strongly suggest you to book a table in Rockbar Ayana during sunset, it’s perfect! located in Ayana hotel so you kind of see what Ayana has to offer. I am satisfied with Rimba!

Thanks for the stay, Rimba!

Apurva Kempinski (3D2N)

I was so amazed by the lobby of Rimba. Schwager said Apurva’s lobby is made of marble, during the evening some stones are sparkling, like a museum it was top top top. To me, the lobby in Rimba is already wow! wait until I arrived at Apurva, it took me to another world of Hochwertiges.

The smallest room is 65 sqm which is bigger than my whole apartment in Germany haha ~ 58 sqm.

What’s so characteristic about Apurva is the stairs, I need to have the IT picture or should I say picturessssss #Plural, can’t get enough, day mode night mode, all of it! The pool also giving an infinity pool vibe, due to the fact it was really infinity haha you looked at the beach in front of you.

Why do we chose Apurva? to celebrate Mother birthdays at Koral restaurant. It is a set menu, I chose Experience Food. Koral has feeding shows, twice a day, the fishes gathered like crazy, fascinating!

Neither did I know, my cousin Santy knows someone who works in Koral so the diver dives to our table, carrying a print out Happy Birthday sign while other people doesn’t get this special announcement, thank you Santy!

We also visited Pandawa hotel just because its 10 minutes away while private beach is walking distance #Mom’s logic. I think we were happier had we stay inside Apurva, feeding fish, walk around or so haha

You need to have a really good Orientierung here. I mentioned the stairs is what makes Apurva different. Why stairs? because the lobby is on the 15th floor whereas your room is down with different elevator. They have buggy services too yet not durchgetaktet like in Ayana, you need to use the phone provided there, in the end we didn’t even use any buggy service, not needed anyway. Downside of Apurva, the check in process dauert Ewigkeit, of course you get welcome drink etc to buy you some time. However you’ll reach the point of “these freebies are not enough, give me my room”.

I think Apurva is fit for honeymoon while Ayana is fit when children already arrived 😀 The kids club in Ayana is better when your child is still small while in Apurva is more suitable for toddler above 5.

Thanks for the stay, Apurva!

Swiss Bell Tuban (2D1N)

Pay attention to the very important Hotel you can’t miss, on your last day in Bali before you go to the Airport, you must sleep at Swiss Bell Tuban. It is located only 10 minutes away from Airport, with traffic it will still manageable within 1 hour. I remembered when I still with Irina at Menzel it took her 2,5 hours to Airport, you don’t want to deal with that stress! It doesn’t mean there is no attractions surrounding btw, there are many restaurants, laundry service is just 60 meters distance, hair salon right next to the hotel.

Our room is on the ground floor, hence we could go direct to swimming pool. Downside is people thought the “balcony” is for public, I had to warn them to remove their belongings and don’t talk there because baby is sleeping on the other side of the door which of course she wokes up haha

Do not buy any souvenir in terms of food or stuff everywhere else, just buy it from Pusat Oleh-Oleh Krisna near Swiss Bell, it’s open 24 hours #Heard that Germany 🙂

Thanks for the stay, Swiss Bell!

What I take from my hotels hopping experience is I would never be able to work in hospitality industry, too many basa basi chit chat, can I help you with anything? Get lost dude! help yourself haha or the famous German phrase “Es ist so wie es ist”

Time stops when I was there…. Listen Bali, I’m coming again XOXO

Papaya Papaya icons created by pisces86 – Flaticon Keyboard Piano icons created by Smashicons – Flaticon Lock Padlock icons created by Freepik – Flaticon

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Squeeze

I got the opportunity to meet both planned + unplanned friends during my stay in Bali! Before I continue, needed to say: just because it’s planned, doesn’t mean it was lacking element of happiness.

Schieva. Obviously this is not her real name 😀 rather her character in one of computer game. I know her since we were still studying in Parahyangan University ~ in another word 13 years has passed by!

She picked me up at the airport, went for a Cafe near Sanur which brings back my teenage memory of reading Detective Conan, Ninja Hatori, Nakayoshi, hmmm where is Doraemon!!!

Back when I’m still on planning modus in Germany, told her I wanted to go to a Viral Doughnut Cart called “Lucky Donat”. Why it’s viral? the Mba is such a lovely lady, she met Isaiah Garza who pretended not to have any money, gave him 3 doughnuts for free. In return Isaiah came back, gave her house, open a Doughnut shop located in Tabanan. Why do I know where it is? Because Schieva turn into Detective, did her research, was so proud of it. I need to be there to take pictures with the viral lady, of course buy her doughnuts too.

She is my Alpha and Omega, welcomer and goodbyer haha if that’s even a word. Before I flew back to Germany, she came bringing Pempek! ~ craved out of nowhere, need to have it ASAP! she was my rescue! Two times, one for my stomach second for my bag! I need a carry on bag, mine wasn’t enough, Tokopedia it is, however I didn’t have an account, she searched for seller in Bali then send it to her. She also give me scarf plus notebook, so colorful, so me, love it 🙂 Thank you so much Sher! yep, that’s part of her real name haha I wish you success in you along with Oyke’s Bali Shisha Service business (IG: balishishaservice)

Rivi. She was involved in one of the “Aib” from my sister and me! We tend to cover it, nevertheless can’t runaway from it, we three formed a band when I was on my 5th grade whereas they were on their 6th grade haha She is the best friend of Sissy ~ in another word 22 years has passed by! She knows everyone including what is happening to my long time 阿姨 Mugi where she got hypnotized, sadly lost all her money during her mudik time or that her husband suddenly passed away however now she remarries haha. Her husband was amazed by all the updates.

I am Schnorren Nummer 1, stayed in their Villa for 1 night. Hey in that way I could meet her! not her children though 🙁 They were waiting for me to come home after my Uluwatu trip with Irina. I brought one of the key from the villa, it didn’t work as my sister put her key on the door, luckily I heard their voice, called Sissy! open the door, I’m outside.

Made. He was the element of surprise, he knew my coming to Bali but we didn’t fix the appointment. Made is also my Uni friends in Parahyangan ~ in another word 13 years has passed by! The timing was perfect, I was in Ubud when he was in Bali just for 1 business trip before he’s back to Bandung.

Oh Remember what Detektive Schieva done? Made is the executor of finding the Lucky Donat. After hearing the opening time is quiet weird, followed by a coincidence that Made was on the area, I asked him to check only to find out her place already became a Sushi shop 🙁 I don’t know what is happening with her nor her shop. Wrote a comment, tagged Isaiah Garza, hope he can check it someday.

Anyway, what I found out about Made is…. he is a fake Balinese haha he only got Balinese name yet was born in Bandung #Funny!

燕巧 Yian Chiow. The word of right place at the right time is happening to her! She posted her picture in Wechat diving + hiking in Kintamani area. What? what? what!!! As far as I know, she couldn’t swim….. fact checked: she still can’t swim yet do diving! Bravo!

On her last day in Bali, she stays at Kuta area, let’s go to Hard Rock Cafe. We talked about who is moving to KL, still in Shanghai, who is already became a mother ~ almost all, she still remember my 弟弟们, talk about our best teacher for 留学生 ever 何老师 without him we will not have hot water haha.

We met in 东华大学上海延安西路1882号 still remember the address by heart! She was the one who asked me to join Resident Advisor, encouraging me to not be afraid for blood test for applying for my Scholarship, still remember her phrase 你怕抽血还是怕拿不到奖学金呢? Without her, my stays in the dormitory would be a living hell. She was one of the person who bend over backwards to help someone. The word considerate, patient and kind are not enough to describe her. The only person who gave me flower on my master graduation, that was the last time we met in person ~ in another word 7 years has passed by!

Thank you for squeezeing your time to meet me! I really appreciate you all crossing my path. Wish you all happy, healthy, luck, money! #I’m Asian haha until we 再见 us again!

Keyboard: Piano icons created by Smashicons – Flaticon

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We Need to Calm Down

Last day before Iri continued her trip to Kuala Lumpur, we really need to calm down 🙂

Oyke took us to a Luwak Coffee hmmm not really a plantation, same same but different, mir fehlt das Wort. The name of the place is Uma Pakel Bali ~ Agro Tourism. They don’t have many Luwaks because it’s not where it all stays, they process the poop into coffee, let’s put it that way.

Anyway what do we do here is we saw one sleeping Luwak, yes it’s a nocturnal animal. His dried poops ~ FYI not smelly ~ how they extract coffee from the poops which is not a lot, moreover he is not pooping every day. The rarity caused Luwak coffee is the world’s most expensive coffee.

We got a set of trial Coffee & Tea for free, Irina ordered one cup of Trial Luwak coffee for 65K. Uma Pakel itself is really Zen-ing, durch die Nase einatmen durch den Mund ausatmen, ooooommmmm.

The very Ubud’s vibe is Rice Terrace view, of course with swings photos spot who act like a franchise you can find it almost everywhere.

Then we went to Uma Ceking Rice Terraces. Didn’t pay extra cost for taking pictures with clothes in the swing, happy with the Kostenlose nest ones 🙂 We played quiet some time with the Love sign, tried to put both our feet into our fingers, didn’t work, should’ve left the heart alone #Wink

This time Irina went down to the sign Uma Ceking while I stayed up there, she was confused like how can I go down in NP where the weather & the steps was worse than this? Well…. I have been wearing Havaianas flip flop all the time, my feet are hurting, I can’t wear shoes either yo it’s too warm hahaha should have bought the Birkenstock #German, bring your national sandals.

Next place is Ubud Market, you have to bargain, I didn’t really do it. I mean, I did until I got cheaper price than in DE, except I’m not squeeze them, can’t do that to my people. We met Oyke in Barong Cafe where he made us drinks. Most of the food we ate are either Nasi Ayam (chicken rice) or Bebek (Ente).

Last destination is Tegunungan Waterfall! There is also a beach club called Oma Beach Club not with infinity pool vibe like TT, instead with Waterfall background. You can see from the top how the beach club looks like afterwards decided if you want to go or not. You can also see it from near had you willing to take the stairs down, we didn’t, just saw it from distance is enough haha

I told Iri what I always do on my last day in Indonesia is to cut my hair! Subsequently we are looking for a saloon! When you are in Ubud there is a restaurant called “Bebek Tepi Sawah” the literal German translation is Ente neben dem Feld haha yes there is a real Sawah. This is the premium Bebek restaurant. Funny thing is the day before while we were on the way from Tirta Gangga to Ubud we also had a Bebek street food style. I called it Bebek Tepi Jalan or “Ente neben der Straße” hahaha European People don’t have anything from Street food please, your belly won’t handle it. #No jokes.

That was my trip experience with my bitch Irina 😀 not sure if she enjoyed it, she was sweating also becoming a mosquito target the whole time. While I only apply on sunscreen, she put sunscreen + repellent. Well, it’s gotta happen anywhere in South East Asia, not only in Bali, suck it up! haha

Got to be honest, she didn’t experience Bali’s beginners tourist, neither does she want that, that’s why she went with me 🙂

Bonus Tippssss:

  • Private Tour with Oyke 950K for 9 hours.
  • Overtime Oyke for 10 hours, it’s basically another day haha due to traffic and destination distances like Karangasem that just way too far from Ubud, so we paid 1Million extra time.
  • Rosella Tee while visited Uma Pakel 110K
  • Entrance Uma Ceking (not with the Swing photos etc) 50K
  • Entrance Tegunungan Waterfall 20K
  • Ubud Market, don’t pay more than 100K for each piece of cloth.

Who is Oyke btw? he is not a random guy I found on internet like the NP Tours one, he is a boyfriend of my University friend. Balinese, his main job is Bali Shisha Service, in spite of that, he used to open his own tour agency. If you want to talk Oyke, compare price, schedule etc, please contact me and I will give Oyke’s WA. He’s not taking customers from outside other than from references as he is focusing more of his Shisha business.

This is him!

Who’s coming next to Bali? #来来来